CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
Ideas sought for reusing sites of state youth facilities
GREAT VALLEY — Any more appeals to the state Office of Child and Family Services to continue operating the Great Valley and Limestone youth residential facilities will fall on deaf ears, but officials in Albany are interested in talking over prospective real estate deals with anyone who has plans for their reuse.
Officials say the negotiations and passage of the New York state 2009-2010 budget have ended more than a year of discussion and appeals to keep the two 25- bed nonsecure youth residential treatment centers open.
Beginning April 6, an entourage of Office of Child and Family Services human resources personnel began making the rounds of nine facilities set for closure and two more that will be downsized by the July 1 start of the new budget year.
They visited Great Valley and Limestone on the first day, preparing the staff for the work force reduction scenario now unfolding and presented options for continued employment to about 200 workers, some of whom may choose to enter a 90- day window giving them preferred status to fill some civil service openings at other facilities elsewhere in the state.
About 50 workers are affected in the Great Valley and Limestone facilities, though a portion of those have already retired or moved on to other jobs, and others are hoping against hope that Gov. David
A. Paterson will step in and save the two centers from closure.
But, officially, the talk has turned to future uses of the two facilities, and Edward Borges of OCFS said Friday he is preparing a real estate package that will be given to anyone interested in exploring the possibilities. Two uses that have been mentioned are education and a long-term health care facility for seniors. He said anyone interested in the properties can call him at (518) 473-7793.
“My vision would be a grade 7-12 alternative education facility,” said Cattaraugus County Legislator Mark Ward, D-Great Valley, who is already on Borges’ list. Ward grew up on Mutton Hollow Road and recalls as a boy holding the flag when Gov. Nelson Rockefeller officially opened the facility. Ward also serves as Ellicottville Central School superintendent, and he spoke up last month during the Legislature’s committee discussion on the state budget impact and told his fellow lawmakers he is hopeful of trying to obtain the Great Valley facility if it closed.
In an interview Friday, Ward acknowledged the efforts of State Sen. Cathy Young, Assemblyman Joe Giglio and other supporters to keep the facilities open, but Ward added: “Sometimes there comes a point where you have to recognize that you fought the good fight. Rather than spin our wheels, I want to move in the direction of keeping a viable economic engine in the community.”
That treatment center now resembles a summer camp and is located in a parklike setting at the end of Mutton Hollow Road, adjacent to state lands. The site has been leased by the owner, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, to OCFS, which owns the buildings and infrastructure. Officials say the current plan is to raze the center and return the lands to their natural state.
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